Muffins built on three quarters of a cup of apple butter whisked directly into the batter, with buttermilk, cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of cloves.
Two bowls, fifteen minutes of work, and about twenty minutes in the oven. Twelve muffins, plain-topped and finished as they come out.
Why This Recipe Works
- Apple butter is already a cooked, concentrated, spiced preserve, so it brings fruit, sweetness and spice in one ingredient. That is why this batter needs only half a cup of sugar where a fresh-apple muffin would need more.
- Buttermilk and baking soda together. The acid in the buttermilk activates the soda directly, and the baking powder behind it provides the reliable general lift — belt and braces for a heavy, fruit-laden batter.
- A quarter teaspoon of ground cloves is the distinguishing spice. It is a small amount because cloves are aggressive, and it is what makes these taste of autumn preserve rather than merely of cinnamon.
- Oil rather than butter at a third of a cup. With this much apple butter already in the mix, the batter does not need the structure creamed butter would give — it needs fat that keeps the crumb soft cold.
- Nothing goes on the outside. These are finished when they leave the tin, which is the clearest difference between them and the cider donut muffins.
Four Things This Batter Depends On
Seven steps and only two bowls, which leaves very little to go wrong — and correspondingly little margin in the few places that matter.
The apple butter itself
It should be a thick, dark, spiced spread — not applesauce.
Three quarters of a cup is a substantial proportion of this batter. Apple butter is cooked down and concentrated; applesauce is mostly water and would give a wet batter with a fraction of the flavour.
Step 3, the wet bowl
Whisk until the apple butter is fully dispersed, with no dark streaks.
Apple butter is thick enough to sit in ribbons rather than mixing in. Streaks left in the wet bowl become dense wet patches in the baked muffin.
Step 4, folding
Stop at the point the flour disappears.
Half a cup of buttermilk against half a teaspoon of soda gives a real lift, and overmixing both develops gluten and knocks that gas back out. Two losses from one mistake.
Step 7, cooling
Ten minutes in the pan, then straight onto a rack.
These are moist muffins from a fruit-heavy batter. Left in the tin they steam and the paper cases go damp underneath.
Ingredient Notes
- Apple butter
- Three quarters of a cup. A thick dark spread cooked down from apples and spice — not apple sauce and not apple purée, both of which carry far more water.
- Buttermilk
- Half a cup. If you have none, half a cup of milk with a teaspoon and a half of lemon juice or vinegar, left five minutes, gets you close enough for the soda to react against.
- Ground cloves
- A quarter teaspoon only. Cloves dominate very easily, and this measure is meant to sit behind the cinnamon rather than beside it.
- Light brown sugar, packed
- Half a cup, which is modest for twelve muffins — the apple butter is carrying much of the sweetness already.
- Chopped pecans
- Half a cup, marked optional, folded in at the end of step 4 rather than scattered on top.
How to Make It
Heat the oven and line the pan
Heat oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan.
Whisk the dry ingredients
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
Whisk the wet ingredients
Whisk the eggs, apple butter, brown sugar, oil, buttermilk and vanilla.
Fold, and add the pecans
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined. Fold in the optional pecans.
Fill the cups
Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake
Bake 20 to 23 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Cool
Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack.
Success Tips
- Whisk the wet bowl until no dark ribbons of apple butter remain.
- Use a spoon to level the flour into the cup rather than scooping straight from the bag.
- Get the batter into the tin and the tin into the oven promptly once the two bowls meet.
- Fill all twelve cups evenly; the bake time assumes twelve rather than nine generous ones.
- Move them onto the rack at ten minutes so the bases do not go soft.
Serving Ideas
Warm with butter, or cold with coffee. They are a plain-topped muffin by design and want nothing added.
Storage and Reheating
Refrigerate
Airtight at room temperature for 3 days. The apple butter keeps them moist longer than most muffins.
Freeze
Freeze in a bag for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature or in the microwave from frozen.
Reheat
Fifteen seconds in the microwave, or a few minutes in a warm oven if you want the outside to firm again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use applesauce instead of apple butter?
Not directly. Applesauce is far wetter and much less concentrated, so you would get a loose batter and a faint apple flavour. Apple butter is cooked down until thick and spiced, and three quarters of a cup of it is doing a lot of work here.
How is this different from the apple cider donut muffins?
Completely different apple, and a different finish. Those start by boiling a cup and a half of cider down to half a cup and end by being brushed with butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. These use apple butter mixed straight into the batter and have no coating at all.
What if I have no buttermilk?
Half a cup of milk with a teaspoon and a half of lemon juice or white vinegar, left to stand five minutes, works. The point is the acid — the baking soda needs something to react with.
Mine came out dense and heavy.
Usually overmixing, and sometimes a batter that sat too long before baking. Fold only until the flour disappears and get the tin into a preheated oven straight away.
